Statuesque: nine women of runway height, at ease in any lobby they cross

Violetta leads at 178 cm, long limbed, black haired and gloriously deadpan. Stacy follows at 176 cm, near-black, slim and never far from a camera. Milena is 175 cm, curvy and direct, most at ease in a patent trench. At 174 cm come the two musicians, Karolina at the piano and Samanta with her violin. Michelle and Vanessa measure 173 cm, the first curvy and talkative, the second slim and forever learning a new language. Angelika and Patricia complete the nine at 172 cm, the tennis player and the watercolourist.

Some of the grandest spaces in W1 were built for height. The Great Room at Grosvenor House, the vast ballroom on Park Lane, makes anyone slouching look smaller still. The Foyer at Claridge's frames whoever stands beneath its great glass chandelier. And at a standing reception on Grosvenor Square, a companion who can see over the crowd is also the one who spots the host before anyone else does.

Height and heels deserve a line in your first message. Several of the nine wear flats for a long walk and a moderate heel for dinner, and all of them ask where the evening is heading before they decide. Prefer that she meets you at eye level? Say so plainly; it is an everyday request and nobody takes it personally.

Height counts for less at a dinner table than people expect: once everyone is seated, what carries is posture, and these nine have it in abundance. A tall companion sits straight, turns fully towards whoever is speaking and never seems to be looking down on anyone, whatever the arithmetic says. That is why the archetype works as well for a quiet supper on Mount Street as for a ballroom, and why the nine are so good at evenings that begin on their feet and end at a table.

Height and a long line overlap more than anywhere else in the issue: Karolina, Patricia, Samanta, Stacy, Vanessa and Violetta all appear in slim and slender too. Michelle and Milena are also curvaceous, and Angelika is toned and athletic. By shade the nine divide between the raven haired, the brunettes and a single auburn.

Galas, launches and client dinners are where this archetype shines, which is why several of these names feature in the society pages. The first hour is £400, a four hour evening £1,300, and everything else sits on the rates page. Bella will ask for the dress code and the venue; after that it is simply a date and a name.